Managing and Waiting

I feel a little guilty at being jaded before finishing even my first year. Even as I am waiting for a worthless, time-consuming tech class to finish, I am waiting for the second semester to finish. And yes, I'm waiting while I wait. Although I haven't had a meltdown in months and thus obviously be coping with the daily grind much better, I have apparently taken a very callous outlook on my classes. Hyperbole though it may be, I have, it seems, stopped caring. This is a good approach for my sanity, but not the best for my students.

Today, for example, the class that I take to lunch was acting like a barrel of monkeys hyped up on Mountain Dew. On the way back from the cafeteria, they could not stay single file or shut their mouths for a second. I informed them that for every minute they continued their immature shenanigans, they would loose that time from tomorrow's lunch. TWELVE minutes later, I had to quietly admit defeat and walk them back to class. Legally, I can not deprive them of their required lunch time. I was hopping mad when we got back to class because, of course, they milled around the room socializing rather than sitting down quietly and starting their warm up. I wrote down the page numbers that we were going to cover that day and the exercises that were due at the end of the hour (more than other classes had to ensure they'd stay busy) and informed them: "Because I tire of trying to talk over those individuals who care less about their education than I do, I will simply not bother. You have the day's objectives here, so you know what to do. Any information you need are on those pages, so read them before you ask me a question. I am more than glad to help you, after that point, if you have any questions; however, I will not waste time with students who are wasting theirs." Interestingly enough, the class was more focused and more productive than most other days.

Maybe I should give up more often.

Oh, and no, I didn't forget about the twelve minutes. The entire class has lunch detention for the rest of the week. They'll find out tomorrow. I can hear their whine already.